Flash memory device having a graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator

ABSTRACT

A graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator is formed between a substrate and floating gate in a flash memory cell transistor. The gate insulator is comprised of amorphous germanium or a graded composition of germanium carbide and silicon carbide. If the composition of the gate insulator is closer to silicon carbide near the substrate, the electron barrier for hot electron injection will be lower. If the gate insulator is closer to the silicon carbide near the floating gate, the tunnel barrier can be lower at the floating gate.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to memory devices and in particular the present invention relates to flash memory devices with graded composition gate insulators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computers or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including random-access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and flash memory.

Flash memory devices have developed into a popular source of non-volatile memory for a wide range of electronic applications. Flash memory devices typically use a one-transistor memory cell that allows for high memory densities, high reliability, and low power consumption. Common uses for flash memory include personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, and cellular telephones. Program code and system data such as a basic input/output system (BIOS) are typically stored in flash memory devices for use in personal computer systems.

Flash memory cells are typically comprised of field effect transistors (FET) with floating gates. The gates are referred to as floating since they are electrically isolated from other conductive areas of the transistor by layers of oxide insulation. The floating gate can be programmed or erased by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling in which electrons tunnel through a barrier in the presence of a high electric field in the oxide.

One drawback with floating gate FETs is the relatively large amount of time needed to store a charge on the floating gate during a write operation and the relatively large amount of time necessary to remove the charge during an erase operation. One reason for the high time requirements is the relatively large tunneling barrier between the silicon substrate and the silicon dioxide insulator. Additionally, the high electric field required to cause electron injection in order to tunnel through the barrier typically contributes to reliability problems and premature gate insulator breakdowns.

As a typical prior art example, silicon dioxide (SiO₂) is an insulator with a relative dielectric constant of 3.9, an energy gap of approximately E_(g)=9 eV, and electron affinity of χ=0.9 eV. By comparison, the energy gap and electron affinity for the semiconductor silicon are E_(g)=1.1 eV and χ=4.1 eV, respectively. In a conventional flash memory cell, electrons stored on the polysilicon floating gate see a large tunneling barrier of about 3.2 eV. FIG. 1 illustrates the typical prior art large barrier, Φ=3.2 eV, for tunneling erase in flash memory devices. The large tunneling barrier Φ=3.2 eV is the difference between the electron affinities of silicon (i.e., χ=4.1 eV) and SiO₂ (i.e., χ=0.9 eV). This is a relatively large barrier that requires a high applied electric field.

There is a resulting need in the art for an improved gate insulator that provides a low tunneling barrier in order to decrease the time required for programming and erase operations in a flash memory cell.

SUMMARY

The above-mentioned problems with gate insulators in semiconductor memories and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

The present invention encompasses a flash memory transistor comprising a substrate with a pair of source/drain regions. The source/drain regions have a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate.

A high dielectric constant gate insulator is formed over the substrate and substantially between the pair of source/drain regions. The gate insulator is comprised of a graded composition of silicon carbide to germanium carbide. In another embodiment, the gate insulator is comprised of amorphous germanium carbide.

An insulator layer is formed over the floating gate. A control gate is formed over the insulator layer.

Further embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatus of varying scope.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art electron energy diagram for a flash memory cell.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a flash memory cell transistor of the present invention having a graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator.

FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of an electron energy band diagram in accordance with the graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator transistor structure of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows an electron energy band diagram in accordance with another embodiment of the graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator transistor structure of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a plot of band gap energies versus electron affinities in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a band diagram for amorphous silicon carbide on silicon in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a band diagram for germanium carbide on germanium in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an electronic system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof and in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. In the drawings, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. The terms wafer or substrate used in the following description include any base semiconductor structure. Both are to be understood as including silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, thin film transistor (TFT) technology, doped and undoped semiconductors, epitaxial layers of a silicon supported by a base semiconductor structure, as well as other semiconductor structures well known to one skilled in the art. Furthermore, when reference is made to a wafer or substrate in the following description, previous process steps may have been utilized to form regions/junctions in the base semiconductor structure, and terms wafer or substrate include the underlying layers containing such regions/junctions.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a flash memory cell transistor of the present invention. The transistor has a graded composition, high dielectric constant (i.e., high-K) gate dielectric. The transistor is comprised of a pair of source/drain regions 201 and 202 implanted in a silicon substrate 211. The direction of operation of the transistor determines which region 201 or 202 functions as a source and which functions as a drain. A channel region 203 exists between the source/drain regions 201 and 202. In an alternate embodiment, the substrate 211 is comprised of germanium.

In one embodiment, the source/drain regions 201 and 202 are n+ doped regions in a p+ type substrate 211. An alternate embodiment may use p+ doped source/drain regions in an n+ type substrate. The present invention is not limited to any one conductivity type for the source/drain regions or the substrate.

A high-permittivity (high-K), graded composition tunnel gate dielectric 206 is formed over the substrate 211 substantially between the source/drain regions 201 and 202 and over the channel region 203. As discussed subsequently, the tunnel gate dielectric 206 is amorphous germanium carbide or graded composition amorphous germanium-silicon carbide that provide adjustable barrier heights in contact with the substrate 211 and floating gate layer 208.

A floating gate layer 208 is formed over the tunnel gate dielectric layer 206. A gate insulator layer 210 is formed over the floating gate 208. A control gate 212 is formed on top of the gate insulator layer 210. In one embodiment, the floating gate layer 208 and the control gate 212 are a polysilicon material and the gate insulator layer 210 is an interpoly insulator.

The architecture of the flash memory cell transistor of FIG. 2 is for purposes of illustration only. The amorphous germanium carbide and graded composition amorphous germanium-silicon carbide tunnel dielectric of the present invention is not limited to planar transistors as illustrated in FIG. 2. This type of tunnel dielectric can be used in other types of planar transistors as well as vertical transistors.

In one embodiment, a high dielectric constant is considered to be a dielectric constant that is greater than that of SiO₂. A wide variety of different high dielectric constant insulators can be realized using atomic layer deposition (ALD) or evaporation techniques. An example of such dielectric materials and their characteristics are summarized in the following table:

Dielectric Band Gap Delta E_(c) (eV) Material Constant (K) E_(c) (eV) to Si SiO₂ 3.9 8.9 3.2 Si₃N₄ 7 5.1 2 Al₂O₃ 9 8.7 2.8 Y₂O₃ 15 5.6 2.3 La₂O₃ 30 4.3 2.3 Ta₂O₅ 26 4.5 1–1.5 TiO₂ 80 3.5 1.2 HfO₂ 25 5.7 1.5 ZrO₂ 25 7.8 1.4 SiC 10 3.4 1.1 Ge_(X)C_(Y) 12 (est.) 5.7 2.2

Alternate embodiments use other dielectrics than those listed above that have other dielectric constants. The characteristics of these materials are well known to those skilled in the art and are not discussed further.

The high-K dielectric materials of the present invention can be used as graded composition in either the tunnel gate dielectric 206 or the gate insulator layer 210. By varying the composition ratios of these high-K dielectrics, the barriers and/or tunnel barriers can either be reduced between the silicon and the gate dielectric as illustrated in FIG. 3 or between the floating gate and the gate insulating dielectric as illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 illustrates an electron energy band diagram in accordance with the graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator transistor structure of FIG. 2. The graded composition, in one embodiment, is silicon carbide to germanium carbide that is graded in the direction shown from silicon carbide closest to the silicon substrate to germanium carbide closest to the polysilicon floating gate. By making the insulator composition close to silicon carbide at the substrate, the electron barrier for hot electron injection will be reduced from the prior art. Also, the tunnel barrier from the floating gate can be kept higher by making the insulator composition close to germanium carbide at the floating gate.

This composition could be deposited on a silicon carbide gate insulator formed by carburization of silicon. Alternate embodiments could use other techniques for the deposition of silicon carbide and germanium carbide.

An alternate embodiment uses a graded composition of silicon oxide to silicon carbide to germanium carbide. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the gate insulator is graded from silicon oxide nearest the substrate to silicon carbide to germanium carbide nearest the floating gate.

In still another embodiment, the gate insulator is comprised of amorphous germanium carbide. As seen in the table above and the plot of FIG. 5, this composition also provides a lower band gap and larger electron affinity than prior art materials such as SiO₂.

FIG. 4 illustrates an electron energy band diagram in accordance with another embodiment of the graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator transistor structure of FIG. 2. The graded composition, in one embodiment, is silicon carbide to germanium carbide. The gate insulator is graded in the direction shown from silicon carbide nearest the polysilicon floating gate to germanium carbide nearest the silicon substrate. FIG. 4 shows that this graded composition results in a low barrier at the polysilicon floating gate-gate insulator interface.

In one embodiment, the germanium carbide is deposited on the silicon substrate or a thin layer of silicon oxide and the composition graded towards silicon carbide as the gate insulator is further deposited. Alternate embodiments can use other techniques for forming this layer.

In another embodiment, the gate insulator is comprised of a graded composition of silicon oxide to silicon carbide to germanium carbide. As indicated in the figure, the silicon oxide is formed closest to the floating gate while the germanium carbide is formed closest to the silicon substrate.

FIG. 5 illustrates a plot of electron affinity versus band gap energy of silicon, silicon carbide (SiC), Germanium, and Germanium Carbide (Ge_(X)C_(Y)). As shown in this plot, prior art insulator silicon dioxide has a relative dielectric constant of 3.9, energy gap of approximately 9.0 eV, and electron affinity of 0.9 eV. In a conventional flash memory, electrons stored on the polysilicon floating gate see a large tunneling barrier of about 3.2 eV. This value is the difference between the electron affinities of silicon (4.1 eV) and SiO₂ (0.9 eV). This is a relatively large barrier that requires high applied electric fields for electron injection.

The plot also shows that SiC has a band gap of 3 eV and an electron affinity of 3.7 eV. Amorphous SiC has relatively low conductivity under modest applied electric fields. Similarly, Ge_(X)C_(Y) has an estimated band gap of 2.5 eV and an electron affinity of 3.0 eV. Both have a much larger electron affinity and a much smaller barrier than SiO₂ that requires a much lower applied electric field for electron injection.

FIG. 6 illustrates a band diagram for amorphous silicon carbide on silicon in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention. If amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide is deposited with a gap of up to 3.4 eV, amorphous silicon carbide can then have a band gap of greater than 2.1 eV of crystalline SiC and an electron affinity of less than 3.7 eV. Amorphous silicon carbide on silicon has a low surface recombination velocity and excellent passivation on silicon as compared to the prior art silicon dioxide.

FIG. 7 illustrates a band diagram for germanium carbide on germanium in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention. Microcrystalline hydrogenated germanium carbide films have been deposited by RF sputtering and electron cyclotron resonance plasma processing. With a low carbon concentration of 4%, these have a band gap energy of around that of silicon (i.e., 1.2 eV). Amorphous hydrogenated germanium carbide can be deposited as an insulator and it can have, after annealing, a band gap energy as high as 7.1 eV and an electron affinity of 1.2 eV. Amorphous germanium carbide on germanium can have an energy barrier of up to 2.8 eV and is therefore suitable for passivation and a dielectric insulator.

FIG. 8 illustrates a functional block diagram of a memory device 800 that can incorporate the flash memory cells of the present invention. The memory device 800 is coupled to a processor 810. The processor 810 may be a microprocessor or some other type of controlling circuitry. The memory device 800 and the processor 810 form part of an electronic system 820. The memory device 800 has been simplified to focus on features of the memory that are helpful in understanding the present invention.

The memory device includes an array of flash memory cells 830. The memory array 830 is arranged in banks of rows and columns. The control gates of each row of memory cells is coupled with a wordline while the drain and source connections of the memory cells are coupled to bitlines. As is well known in the art, the connection of the cells to the bitlines depends on whether the array is a NAND architecture, a NOR architecture, or some other array architecture. The flash memory cells of the present invention are not limited to any one architecture.

An address buffer circuit 840 is provided to latch address signals provided on address input connections A0-Ax 842. Address signals are received and decoded by a row decoder 844 and a column decoder 846 to access the memory array 830. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, with the benefit of the present description, that the number of address input connections depends on the density and architecture of the memory array 830. That is, the number of addresses increases with both increased memory cell counts and increased bank and block counts.

The memory device 800 reads data in the memory array 830 by sensing voltage or current changes in the memory array columns using sense/buffer circuitry 850. The sense/buffer circuitry, in one embodiment, is coupled to read and latch a row of data from the memory array 830. Data input and output buffer circuitry 860 is included for bidirectional data communication over a plurality of data connections 862 with the controller 810). Write circuitry 855 is provided to write data to the memory array.

Control circuitry 870 decodes signals provided on control connections 872 from the processor 810. These signals are used to control the operations on the memory array 830, including data read, data write, and erase operations. The control circuitry 870 may be a state machine, a sequencer, or some other type of controller.

The flash memory device illustrated in FIG. 8 has been simplified to facilitate a basic understanding of the features of the memory. A more detailed understanding of internal circuitry and functions of flash memories are known to those skilled in the art.

CONCLUSION

In summary, flash memory transistors of the present invention with graded composition, high-K gate dielectrics reduce the electron barrier between the substrate and gate insulator and the tunnel barrier between the polysilicon floating gate and gate insulator. This is accomplished by using a graded composition, high-K dielectric gate insulator instead of the prior art's silicon dioxide.

The use of the gate insulators described above allows for two different barriers. The lower height of the tunneling barriers with high-K dielectric gate insulators can provide larger tunneling currents out of the floating gate with smaller control gate voltages. The lower barrier at the interface with the silicon substrate makes the write operation easier and write currents by channel hot electron injection larger at lower voltages. Both tunneling currents and hot electron injection currents are exponential functions of the barrier heights and electric fields.

The higher dielectric constant gate insulators of the present invention also allow for better scaling of flash memory devices to smaller dimensions. The effective gate length of high-K gate tunneling dielectric flash memory transistors can be scaled below 50 nm. High-k gate dielectrics reduce or eliminate drain turn-on problems, short-channel effects and punchthrough in flash memory transistors. Smaller write and erase voltages provide another advantage in that the thickness of the SiO₂ or other insulator layer between the control gate and the floating gate can be reduced.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. Many adaptations of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the invention. It is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof. 

1. A flash memory transistor comprising: a substrate having a pair of implanted source/drain regions, the source/drain regions having a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate; a high dielectric constant gate insulator formed over the substrate and substantially between the pair of source/drain regions, the gate insulator comprising a graded composition of silicon carbide to germanium carbide; a floating gate formed over the gate insulator; an insulator layer formed over the floating gate; and a control gate formed over the insulator layer.
 2. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the gate insulator is formed by an evaporation technique.
 3. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the gate insulator is formed by an atomic layer deposition technique.
 4. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the high dielectric gate insulator has a dielectric constant greater than 3.9.
 5. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the graded composition of silicon carbide to germanium carbide comprises a greater amount of silicon carbide at an interface between the substrate and the gate insulator.
 6. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the graded composition of silicon carbide to germanium carbide comprises a greater amount of silicon carbide at an interface between the floating gate and the gate insulator.
 7. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the source/drain regions are n+ conductivity and the substrate is p+ conductivity.
 8. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the floating gate and control gate are comprised of polysilicon.
 9. The transistor of claim 1 wherein a direction of operation of the transistor determines which source/drain region of the pair of source/drain regions is a source and which is a drain.
 10. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the gate insulator is comprised of an amorphous, hydrogenated silicon carbide having a band gap greater than 2.1 eV of crystalline silicon carbide is deposited on the substrate.
 11. The transistor of claim 1 wherein the gate insulator is comprised of an amorphous, hydrogenated germanium carbide having a band gap energy of 7.1 eV is deposited on the substrate.
 12. A flash memory transistor comprising: a substrate having a pair of source/drain regions, the source/drain regions having a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate, a channel region formed between each pair of source/drain regions; a graded composition, high dielectric constant gate insulator formed over the channel region, the gate insulator having a dielectric constant that is greater than 3.9 and comprised of a graded composition of silicon carbide to germanium carbide; a floating gate formed over the gate insulator; an oxide insulator formed over the floating gate; and a control gate formed over the oxide insulator.
 13. The transistor of claim 12 wherein the source/drain regions are n+ conductivity and the substrate is a p-type material.
 14. A flash memory transistor comprising: a substrate having a pair of source/drain regions, the source/drain regions having a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate, a channel region formed between each pair of source/drain regions; a high dielectric constant gate insulator, having a dielectric constant greater than 3.9, formed over the channel region, the gate insulator comprised of amorphous germanium carbide; a floating gate formed over the gate insulator; an oxide insulator formed over the floating gate; and a control gate formed over the oxide insulator.
 15. A flash memory array comprising: a substrate having a plurality of pairs of source/drain regions, the plurality of source/drain regions having a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate; a graded composition gate insulator formed over the substrate and substantially between each pair of the plurality of source/drain regions, the gate insulator having a dielectric constant that is greater than 3.9 and comprised of a graded composition of silicon carbide and germanium carbide; a floating gate layer formed over each of the gate insulators; an oxide insulator formed over each of the floating gate layers; and a control gate formed over each of the oxide insulators.
 16. An electronic system comprising: a processor that generates control signals; and a memory array coupled to the processor, the array comprising: a substrate having a plurality of pairs of source/drain regions, the plurality of source/drain regions having a different conductivity than the remainder of the substrate; a graded composition gate insulator formed over the substrate and substantially between each pair of the plurality of source/drain regions, the gate insulator having a dielectric constant that is greater than 3.9 and comprised of a graded composition of silicon carbide and germanium carbide; a floating gate layer formed over each of the gate insulators; an oxide insulator formed over each of the floating gate layers; and a control gate formed over each of the oxide insulators. 